Topic: Metroid Dread

I'll be honest, I don't need to see a single other thing about the game. Unless the reviews are disappointing, I'm just buying it.

@kkslider5552000 I am with you. I don't want to know more at this point as it is all spoilers

It’s a new Metroid, that’s all I need to know. Not sure why people need every last detail before buying/playing the game. I don’t even watch movie trailers if I know I’m going to watch the film. I’m currently playing through the timeline now after buying a Wii U and downloading the two GBA games.

It's official now.
Metroid Dread (16 years) took longer than Duke Nukem Forever (15 years).

But it was the Wii U era where you could download Metroid, Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion, Metroid: Zero Mission, Metroid Prime Trilogy, Metroid Prime Hunters, Metroid: Other M, and Metroid Blast.

@mr_somewhere

Nice theories! And good to hear Samus blue ship is back.

@link3710

Yeah, I heard that too! You see a few wires, so I think that something literally has ripped out some (or most) of Samus powers. Just as the Ing in Echoes stole Samus powers at the beginning of that game.

I have a random theory that may or may not show up in Dread:

What if the X are a corrupted form of Aeion? They seem to take a similar form to Aeion, a floating, yellow blob that seems to power life. Although instead of giving energy, the X take energy. It'll be very interesting to see if a possible connection between Aeion and the X are established, either in this or a future game.

@Bolt_Strike I did wonder if there was going to be a connection in SR. The colouring looked to be a give away but then nothing came of it. I certainly wouldn't write it off anyway, wouldn't be surprised if you were right! Maybe that's what they're up to on this planet. There does seem to have been something special about SR-388 as the conditions on that planet also resulted in the Metroid mutations.

@mr_somewhere Aeion is probably the common thread as for why all of these things happened on SR388. The Chozo Memories do imply that the presence of Aeion SR388 may be a factor in why Metroids can evolve past their larval stage on the planet, as one of the memories shows bright yellow light emerging from cracks in the ground when they evolve. Likewise, Aeion probably caused the X to emerge on SR388 both when the Chozo first inhabited the planet and created the Metroids to stop them and their resurgence on SR388 after Samus exterminated the Metroids. As there does appear to be Aeion on ZDR, that might be why eliminating the X on the B.S.L. and SR388 didn't render the species extinct, new X-parasites may have formed from the Aeion on ZDR.

@Bolt_Strike Some exciting speculation there. I feel there is going to be some kind of direct relation with the E.M.M.I. and what is going on in the planet, I still don't think they have been infected, not yet, but I could easily be proven wrong.

@Balta666 @kkslider5552000 I agree with you both, Nintendo seems to be pushing this heavily on Twitter, i'm ignoring it but I think it's important, without good sales we might not see Metroid 6 so they should keep it up!

I already have it preordered, I can't wait!!

@MarioBrickLayer oh absolutely. I love to see Nintendo pushing the game. I will just skip it as I want to be free of spoilers

@BenGrimm You recently bought a wii u? I'm thinking of buying one myself just for the metroid games en all the zelda games on there. But i don't know if it's still worth it now, considering they might port it over to the switch

@Kaioken

I was the same, I’ve been putting it off while hoping the rumours about the trilogy port and GBA games coming to the online service would come true. The news of the new game just made me pull the trigger.

Wii U is at least good for playing Wii games (and if you do the simple Wii OS mod, which only affects the BC Wii mode, you can enable GameCube games to be played from Hard Drive as well as Wii games). The other VC games are also nice.

But that’s about it. There aren’t really many games left that are worth playing on the system that haven’t come to Switch, and the few that are still on the system will probably come in due time, like Xenoblade X. But, Wii Sports Club Golf and Bowling are worthwhile, as is NintendoLand. And you might find a few other titles you like, such as Game & Wario or Star Fox Zero and Guard. And there’s a few 3rd party games that are excellent with the Wiimote or Gamepad.

Wii U's five best Nintendo games that aren't on Switch are Xenoblade Chronicles X, Yoshi's Woolly World, Paper Mario: Color Splash, and both The Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD.

I still want a Color Splash port. I didn't think it was possible to get a brandnew Paper Mario (The Origami King) so soon. It's wizardry. I never got to play the Wii U prequel.

Also, the Metroid 2 (3DS) remake is a thing I'd buy on Switch.

Okay, I FINALLY finished playing Samus Returns. So prepare for a long rant on that game and what it means for Dread.

I'd only made it to area 2 last time. By that point, the game had enough good points to excite me for Dread, but it honestly hadn't been enough to rope me into playing all of it. My mistake.

It turns out around when you hit area 3 the game REALLY gets better. The opening segments of the game were filled with pacing missteps, most notably the heavy overreliance on the counter move. Once you get the Wave Beam, things get much better on the combat front. The fact that some enemies only have a weakness that can be hit by sniping through platforms is a fun way to make use of that beam, and it's combined with the game dropping the usage of the counter to only 'too much' instead of 'WAY too much'. Plus, I started getting better at dodging the enemies dashes and taking them out with my beams, which is honestly pretty enjoyable.

Aaaanyways, I want to talk about what Samus Returns has done that takes the series in the right direction.

1. Easy Morph Ball - In the game you can jump if a tunnel is one or two tiles high, and instantly turn into a morph ball. It's a small thing, but it's very nice from a pacing perspective.
2. Bosses - The bosses in this game are MUCH harder than Zero Mission, especially if (like me), you're not doing any backtracking on a first playthrough. I think I died to literally every boss in the game on my first encounter with them. The new bosses were admittedly too few, but both were really fun. Ridley was clearly a reference to the Prime games since he's half-robotic. But more intriguingly was the other unexplained boss. With that glowing red eye, was it related to EMMI?
3. Easy Retries - On the note of dying to bosses, the fact that the game autosaves when you change areas or start a boss is a lifesaver. I never put down the game in frustration during a boss fight (something that did happen to me in Echoes) because there's no waiting time to retry. It's a small change, but it's huge for enjoyment.
4. Aieon Abilities - I mentioned my disdain for these earlier, but I've changed my mind completely. These were all great additions, once I realized that they weren't actually as game breaking as they seemed. While I refused to use them on boss fights (Just to make the game that extra bit harder), for traversal and puzzles they were great. Slowdown in particular was wonderful.
5. Hidden Items - I was a bit afraid that they were going to make the hidden items easier to find again, a la Fusion. But instead, the Scan Pulse basically acted as a less momentum breaking x-ray scanner. Like the X-Ray scanner, I only used it for endgame cleanup, but it was incredibly handy for getting that last ~5% without having to go for a guide. Basically, any game that I can 100% with the tools in game while still feeling rewarding is good in my book.
6. Secret Techniques - I'm not sure if it'll return, but the new secret technique for the Power Bomb was fantastic (once I figured out what the heck I did). It made the power bombs WAY more interesting to have, I'm just sad they showed up so late. Was definitely useful for moving through long rooms fast during cleanup too. Infinite Bomb Jumps were super enjoyable in this game, compared to my hatred of trying to pull them off in Super. I'm sure some purists found them too easy, but I was glad they were within my bag. Wall Jumps though were TOO easy. I'd prefer the timing be a bit stricter for that technique. I do wish a few others had been in as well, five bomb drop and crystal flash notably, even if the latter is pretty useless.
Fast Travel - This game would've been horrific to backtrack in without fast travel, so I'm glad it's here. I'm pretty sure it's the largest map to date (I just replayed Super Metroid last week and that's definitely smaller), but worse, it's not interconnected at all. While I wish they'd gone with a brand new map entirely instead of being beholden to Metroid II's structure, it was big here.
7. Design - Editting this in, but my gosh is that game GORGEOUS. It's easily one of the best looking 3DS titles, up there with Kid Icarus Uprising. While rough edges occasionally show up, the art design is fantastic at constantly setting the mood. Area 7 (I believe) in particular was a shock due to getting to see what that setting was. But in general, a wonderful looking game, especially after the first few areas. The music also got significantly better as you got deeper... but there wasn't that much there tbh? Other than the fantastic Magmoor Caverns remix (my personal favorite from this game easily), and the final boss theme (also very good), it wasn't quite up to snuff. I hope they improve that more for Dread.

TLDR; I'm looking forward to Dread after playing Samus Returns. Also, I'm wondering if the giant robot we fought in that game is connected to the EMMI?

@link3710
Great write up. Makes me want to play Samus Returns right here and now… maybe I will.

@SKTTR
Ya, those are good games, but I think all of them will end up on Switch aside from Paper Mario. Maybe Yoshi as well, though I hope they bring it over. It’s better than Crafted World.

@link3710 Unlikely, the robot in SR (which is named Diggernaut BTW) is a Chozo mining robot, you can see it in the Chozo Memories (a series of still scenes in the Options menu that give extra lore, you can view them by selecting a file, then clicking Options -> Gallery -> Chozo Memories if you were unaware of them) being constructed while similar smaller robots are at work mining Aeion on SR388. The E.M.M.I.s are Federation research robots, so they're made by a completely different entity for a completely different purpose. The similar design probably has more to do with MercurySteam's design style and less to do with any lore connection in universe, or at best, Diggernaut's design may have influenced the design of the E.M.M.I.s but they have no further connection.

Speaking of Diggernaut, I recently replayed SR as well, and Diggernaut wasn't as hard as I remember, with the main difficulty stemming from the controls not responding well when I was trying to get out of Morph Ball from laying bombs while it was trying to suck me up. I think mapping Morph Ball to pressing down twice instead of a separate button like the Prime games may be hindering the game's flow, I'd like to see the 2D games follow suit.

I was actually thinking the same thing about the morph ball needing a specific button. Of course, the double tap down could be left in also, but a designated button would work wonders.

Also, a melee razor spin in morph ball mode that could take out basic bricks would keep the flow of gameplay without having to lay and wait for bombs. Then again, I like the bomb mechanic and wouldn’t want to render it less impactful, so maybe not. Just an idea to think about. Perhaps if it could only be done on the ground, not when using spider ball (assuming that’s even still in).